High in the Alps!

Our arrival in Murren took many legs – get the rental car, find the correct highway, drive to the Jungfrau valley get some groceries, drive to Stechelburg… And that’s where we struggled. It was a long day of driving up and around mountain roads (gorgeous!!) and we were super thrilled (…) to see that there was no one in the ticket booth and no cable car to take us up the mountain. After some detective work, we found someone to sell us a ticket, the gondola arrived and we sailed up the mountain, first to Gimmelwald then on to Murren. Our hotel, Hotel Blumental, is lovely! Our room is large and has a stunning view of the Jungfrau. Emmy and Chris are in the chalet behind the hotel – also beautiful and cozy!

Today has been quite the adventure! We had an early breakfast here at the hotel (yum!) then flew even higher – 10,000 feet to be exact! – to the Piz Gloria at top of the Schilthorn. Wow what a view! There aren’t actually words for it – it’s too astounding! The buding and observation decks were positioned so that you could see nearly everything. The clouds covered the very top of a couple of the peaks, but generally we could see it all.

The brave ones, Chris and Shane, enjoyed their jaunts out on the outpost decks, while Emmy and I stayed in the safer areas.

We had drinks in the rotating restaurant and visited the 007 exhibit showcasing In Her Majesty’s Service, filmed on the mountain.

After our glide back down the mountain, and quick stop at Birg to see its observation deck, we cruised back into Murren to arrange for Chris to paraglide down the mountain to the valley floor. What an experience for him! The wimpy ones waited around and got to see him sail past the village – very cool! After we regrouped, we rode a funicular back up another side of the mountain to have lunch at the Allmendhubel – a great jumping off point for some hikes! We hiked around the restaurant a little before Em and Chris made their way back down for more village exploration and Shane and I took off down the mountain for some hiking.

We lost the trail a lot but with the help of a mountain stream and cable lines, we found ourselves back reunited with our peeps and ready to take a load off!

We are having fondue for dinner – of course! – to cap off a lovely Alpine day!